The Referee Issue

Referees are one of the most unique aspects of soccer. They are necessary to keep the game fair and coherent and structured, which allows the players to decide the match. They are also human and therefore prone to mistakes.

Officiating a soccer game, like any form of judgment, is largely subjective. VAR might smooth out some of the rougher edges, but even on a screen there’s room for interpretation.

In today’s age of close-up replays and social media, referees are under the microscope more than anyone in the game.

“This is why referees make such interesting characters for films,” K+S’s head of programming Rachel Markus says. “Their central role in every match, the stresses they’re under, the impact of their split-second decisions — it is all a recipe for engrossing drama.”

There are dozens of referee-themed films we’ve screened and watched over the years. Here are a few of our favorites — all coincidentally titled “The Referee” — that you can watch right now.

El Arbitro (The Referee) | Directed by Justin Webster and Eriz Zapiriain, this film captures the unique stresses, joys, and challenges — both on and off the field — for La Liga Spanish referee Miguel Ángel Pérez Lasa. The centerpiece is a Barcelona-Sevilla match, when the filmmakers are given remarkable access, including inside the refs’ locker room before, during, and after the match, intimate isolated camera footage, and realtime audio from their headsets. It’s the best inside look of a top-level referee ever.

Watch on YouTube.

Rattskiparen (The Referee) | Swedish referee Martin Hansson was one of the top officials in the world and expected to be a primary referee at the 2010 World Cup. Then, on November 18, 2009, during a qualifier between France and Ireland in Paris, he famously missed a hand ball by Thierry Henry, and his entire professional life unraveled. Director Mattias Low’s intimate short portrait of Hansson is documentary-making at the highest level.

Watch on Vimeo.

l’Arbitro (The Referee) | This award-winning fictional short film from Paulo Zucca is poignant and darkly comic. The story follows a top Italian referee who is demoted and exiled to the remote island of Sardinia. There, he finds out what it takes to handle a real match.

Watch on Vimeo.